Vernon Jordan

US Lawyer Vernon Jordan

Vernon Eulion Jordan, Jr. (born August 15, 1935) is an American business executive and civil rights activist in the United States. A leading figure in the Civil Rights Movement, he was chosen by President Bill Clinton as a close adviser. Jordan has become known as an influential figure in American politics.

Contents

Early life and education1

Legal career and activism2

Murder attempt3

Clinton administration4

Recent activities5

Marriage and family6

Publications7

Legacy and honors8

Representation in other media9

References10

External links11

Early life and education

Vernon Jordan was born in Georgia, to Mary Jordan and Vernon E. Jordan, Sr; he has a brother, Windsor. He is the cousin of James Shaw, a musician who is professionally billed as The Mighty Hannibal.[1]

Legal career and activism

Jordan returned to Atlanta to join the law office of racial discrimination in its admission policies. The suit ended in 1961 with a Federal Court order demanding the admission of two African Americans, Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton E. Holmes. Jordan personally escorted Hunter past a group of angry white protesters to the university admissions office.

While still with the National Urban League, Jordan in 1981 said of the Ronald Reagan administration:

“

I do not challenge the conservatism of this administration. I do challenge its failure to exhibit a compassionate conservatism that adapts itself to the realities of a society ridden by class and race distinction.[5]

”

That year he resigned from the National Urban League to take a position as legal counsel with the Washington, D.C., office of the Dallas law firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld.

Murder attempt

On May 29, 1980, Jordan was shot and seriously wounded outside the Marriott Inn in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He was accompanied by Martha Coleman at the time. Police thought initially that it might have been a domestic incident related to Coleman's life.[6] Then-president Jimmy Carter visited Jordan while he was recovering, an event that became the first story covered by the new network CNN.[7]Joseph Paul Franklin was acquitted in 1982 of charges of attempted murder. However, in 1996, after having been convicted of murder in another case, Franklin admitted to having committed the shooting.[8]

Clinton administration

Vernon Jordan shares conversation with famed photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt. At the time, Jordan was visiting President Clinton on the island of Martha's Vineyard.

Jordan, a friend and political adviser to Bill Clinton, served as part of Clinton's transition team in 1992–93, shortly after he was elected president. In the words of The New York Times:

"For Mr. Clinton, Mr. Jordan's roles have been manifold: Golfing companion. Smoother of ruffled feathers (he put the president back in touch with Zoë Baird after the withdrawal of her nomination to be attorney general). Consoler in chief (after Mr. Clinton was defeated for re-election as governor in 1980, after the suicide of Vincent W. Foster Jr. in 1993). Conduit to the high and mighty (he took Mr. Clinton in 1991 to the Bilderberg conference in Germany, an exclusive annual retreat for politicians and businessmen). Go-between (he told Mike Espy he had to go as secretary of agriculture, helped win Warren Christopher a larger role as secretary of state and sounded out Gen. Colin L. Powell for a Cabinet job).[9]

In 1998 Jordan helped Monica Lewinsky, a former White House intern, after she left the White House. His role was considered controversial given the scandal that the Clinton administration had suffered because of the president's involvement with the intern.[10] On October 1, 2003, a United States court of appeals rejected Jordan's claim for reimbursement for legal services related to assisting Clinton in scandals regarding Lewinsky and Paula Jones. Jordan asked the government to pay him $302,719, but he was paid only $1,215.[11]

In the 2004 presidential campaign, Jordan led debate preparation and negotiation efforts on behalf of John Kerry, the Democratic nominee for president.[12] That year he was elected president of the Economic Club of Washington.

In 2006, Jordan served as a member of the Iraq Study Group, which was formed to make recommendations on U.S. policy in Iraq.[13]

Marriage and family

Jordon married Shirley (née Yarbrough), who died in 1985. They have a daughter, Vickee Jordan Adams, who works in media relations for Wells Fargo Home Mortgage.

In 1986 he remarried, to Ann Dibble Jordan. He has nine grandchildren, seven from his second wife's children, Janice, Mercer, and Toni.[14]

Publications

His memoir, Vernon Can Read! (2001), covered his life through the 1980s, and was written with historian and legal scholar Annette Gordon-Reed.

A collection of his public speeches, with commentary, called Make It Plain: Standing Up and Speaking Out (2008)[15] (Public Affairs, 2008).

Jordan also served as the narrator for American composer Joseph Schwantner'sNew Morning for the World: "Daybreak of Freedom," a collection of quotations from various speeches by Martin Luther King, Jr..[16][17]

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